[Closed] Commuting Fatality In Edinburgh

Sad news indeed. I used to commute along Corstorphine Road as far as St. John's Road for 4 years, and yes for the most part there's a bus lane which keeps cyclists away from the bulk of the traffic.

Hate to say it (innocent until proven and all that) but I'm not surprised that a taxi was involved. Was regularly passed by inches on that road by taxis heading to/from the airport.

I use that road quite a bit, and as Kit says it's generally ok.
Been cut up by taxis a couple of times trying to squeeze through in the bus lane. Now I just sit in the middle of the bus lane, making sure there is definately no gap for anything to try to squeeze into.

Another sad day on the roads.

My thoughts are with his family & friends.

The taxi in the photo appears to have a smashed windscreen. 😥

That's horrific. Wish I hadn't seen this.

Very sad. Again innocent until proven guilty etc, but there is no denying in my experience that some taxi drivers really don't like cyclists.

I use that road every now and again, and the only safe place to be is in the middle of the bus lane. If you stay to the left you always get some idiot taxi driver trying to squeeze past you.

Sad but also sadly ,all too familiar a tale.
Day one of my commute in Glasgow in the "safety" of the bus lane I got struck by a taxi driver's wing mirror as he cut in to "beat me" to a red light. I hold the middle of the lane now.I find bus drivers to be far more considerate road users despite the far more diffcult job of driving such a large vehicle.

Sad.

IME all taxi driver care about is making money, screw every other road user.

isn't that the second death in Edinburgh in a couple of months? very sad news.

It is just by a set of roadworks which have narrowed the road to one lane with cones. I think the collision happened just after the cones. I passed it in the car just after it happened. Not good.

Sadly, even being in the middle of the lane, you get taxi drivers who will not give you the full lane and only partially pull out. Every car, bus and taxi along that road does at least 35mph too. The Citylink buses are the scariest, but thankfully not very frequent.

edit: imnotverygood - which part of Corstorphine Road is it? I can't tell from the photo.

It is just to the east of the Chinese Embassy, about 75 yards east of the junction with Murrayfield Road

"beat me" to a red light

I've never understood this, its even worse when they try and beat you to a traffic island and you have to get out the way of them as they swerve back in. Buses are largely excellent though they can follow too close, and they are covered in cameras so the driver wouldn't be able to get away with the kind of tricks that taxis like to pull.

Re the buses in Edinburgh. LRT are great; their drivers are amongst the most considerate on the road. Citylink on the other hand are a bunch of complete idiots, and it's onlt a matter of time before they kill either a cyclist or a pedestrian. I've seen their buses go clean through red lights on Queen St in the middle of the Festival with the streets packed with people.

2nd killed this year and on the 1st of March a truck driver knocked a cyclist off & into A & E "without noticing".
Everytime I'm on the roads I find myself becoming more & more aggressive to ensure I have adequate space to survive, which will not end well. Twice this week been forced to pull over in genuine fear of injury, I am not a meek fellow; it has consistently been worsening IMO despite apparent "efforts" to rectify the problem.
I doubt Edinburgh's alone but how.many.does.it.take?

No,not alone. I ride about 2 mins on fairly busy road to get onto a singletrack road climb to get to my nearest off-road trails. It's never been bad for traffic but recently (past year or so) I have noticed that within those few minutes of riding,something more often than not happens.

To start with I have a set of traffic lights 10 seconds into the ride. Followed by a couple of islands in the middle of the road. Then 30 seconds up the road is an average sized roundabout.

In this short distance over the past week I have left the house and had cars trying to pass me or getting frustrated behind me when passing the islands.One of them burnt past in between the islands instead of waiting a few extra seconds. Then on another evening I was approaching the roundabout in the left lane to take the 2nd exit when a car drove past me about 50ft from the roundabout..only to pull in front of me and put the brakes on for cars already on the roundabout. This is the same 2 min ride I might have posted about a month or so ago when I was riding past the central islands and pissed off some old lady that couldn't drive past me. When she finally got past (all 10 extra seconds) she aggressively pointed her index finger towards the kerb as she drove off into the distance. Cheeky old bag!

Today? Today I left the house and headed in the town direction. I approached a junction that takes me onto the said road and a car was coming from the town direction. He was indicating left. I nearly pulled out but going by his speed and eye contact, he forgot to cancel his indicator. Argh! So that would have been a right mess if I made the wrong? decision this afternoon.

Scary to see that little damage to the taxi for a fatality.

Im not trying to start off a debate about the obvious issue (hoping he who must not be named isnt about just now- not Elf, the other one!) but not sure if the rider was wearing a helmet?
Still horrible though, cycled along that bit many a time when I lived in Edinburgh many years ago- was still busy once the bypass went in.

Makes me glad that most of my commute is off-road.

Bloody rubbish though.

Condolences to the family... its a busy road so i hope there are witnesses to come forward... Its tough cycling in Edinburgh with the combination of road works, cones and constant road closures....

I must be lucky, my route from Portobello sees relatively few incidents for me.

Feature bout this on Scotland Tonight on stv right now

Quite interesting, it seems to have prompted a summit about cycle safety anyway.

Very, very sad, I hope everyone involved is getting the support they need. I use this route everyday and can echo the sentiments of all posters re: Lothian Buses - they really are noticeably careful, my mate drives with them and they had a lot of training given after an incident at Ferry Road Roundabout (I think).

Unfortunately, I was very nearly wiped out last night (again) by a Merc Vito Cab last night when avoiding a pothole about 100 yards from the accident spot, I got a real fright. Unfortunately, the cabbies in Edinburgh really don't give a shit about cyclist's safety, I don't think I am exagerating too much when I say that they all act the same...

I was so incensed last night I was thinking of starting a Facebook campaign naming and shaming taxis. But that would be just daft, wouldn't it!?...

Sad. RIP rider. I very rarely go on the road but did a short section last night on the way to some trails. It's an A road in a forest so very dark and it was night time anyways. This bit of road is quite wide with enough of a "hard shoulder" to ride on over the unbroken white line at the edge. I was riding along this last night and 2 cars stopped behind me until it was clear to overtake in the oncoming lane even though I wasn't even in their lane. I nearly fell off in amazement. In hindsight I think it may have been the flashing cherry bomb on my Camelbak dazzling them or I need to get on a diet pronto.

Read an interesting stat yesterday (on Twitter, so I'll make no grand claima about how true it is) - 15 cyclists killed in London last year, 0 cyclists killed in Paris last year.

and how many killed in car accidents? pretty crappy news this, particularly as on my commute. can echo the comments that taxis drive like idiots on that road, been cut up too many times to count. having the bus lane there is great but i think it can give a false sense of 'safety' as you feel protected from the road

Personally find the black cab drivers to be quite good, if aggressive - they're generally in control of their vehicles. Sadly not in this instance.
Private hire drivers are, by a mile, the worst drivers on the roads IME.

Tend to agree with Garry - black cab drivers tend to be predictable and in control.

the worst I find is the school run mum or dad.

I drive this route most week nights heading out of the centre and echo the above comments re: Taxi drivers. They regularly move out half way from the bus/cycle lane and do not give cyclists enough room. They also regularly pin cyclists against parked cars. I maybe notice it more being a cyclist myself, but the private hire Vitos and equivalents seem to be the worst culprits. The current roadworks at Haymarket and where this accident happened don't help the situation.

RIP.
happens all to often though, down here in 'that London' we get about 1 a month, more cycling fatalities than from teenage knife crime but only the latter is seen as a threat to life or a mainstream media issue.

Usual commute home- Picardy place, bridges, chamber street, Heriots, Tollcross, canal.

Joined up with two guys I didn't know, didn't speak but took the space we needed together (lined up in red bike sections etc) all indicating correctly and efficiently. To hell with the bus lanes, centre of the middle lane.

If the pack mentality is what it takes, then fine. The "squeezed into parked cars" event is all to prevalent.

I'm fed up; Selfish as it may seem, a show of force from us all together some day soon might give the drivers (and the council) something to seriously discuss.

cfinnimore - Member
The "squeezed into parked cars" event is all to prevalent, as the sad loss of the Lanark Road commuter showed.

druidh

Sorry bud, my bad. Uninformed conclusion based on hearsay it was.

Angry Me shall-read-then-post-in-future.

*Post Redacted*